WWE – Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection (DISC THREE)

New Direction: Warrior said that Vince always kept up with the news and current events for ways to incorporate them into storylines. When the Iraq War started, Vince decided to bring in Sgt. Slaughter and General Adnan. The business changed as Vince put the WWF title on Slaughter for him to face Hogan at WrestleMania 7. Warrior was screwed out of the title by Savage and they were going to face in a retirement match. Warrior wasn’t concerned over losing the belt and liked the idea.

To set the stage, this takes place two days after Randy Savage cost the WOYAH the WWF title to Sgt. Slaughter at the Royal Rumble. Easily one of my favorite WWF feuds. As you would imagine, the Warrior is quite pissed. By the way, Sean Mooney and Brother Love on commentary. I like the Brother Love character and all, but he can be quite irritating to listen to for long periods of time. Tons of clotheslines in this one from both competitors. Apparently pinfalls are allowed, but ref Earl Hebner has to open the door and get inside the ring in order to make the count. MACHO ELBOW connects for 1-2-NO! Warrior presses Savage off his chest and starts to WARRIOR UP! More clotheslines set up the GUERRILLA SPLASH, but Savage brings up the knees to block and climbs out the cage. He gets about half way down on the other side when Warrior grabs him by the hair through the bars. In order to save her king, Queen Sherri opens the door to the cage and wraps her blouse around Warrior’s neck. During the brief tussle, Savage slips out of Warrior’s hands and falls to the floor to win. (10:33) Meanwhile, Sherri falls backwards down to the mat and now she’s all alone with the Warrior. Like I’m sure how most women would feel, they soon regret spending ANY time with this man. She gets her clothes ripped off trying to escape, which leaves her in nothing but black lingerie. Savage helps Sherri get away, but takes a huge beating that not even the referees can stop as Warrior shoves them all around. The Nasty Boys come out to try and stop the Warrior, but they fail. More suits come out and can’t stop him. Once Savage is finally out of the cage, Sherri gets grabbed and given a GORILLA PRESS SLAM before Warrior makes his exit as only he can do. Lots going on, but don’t think this is anything like the retirement match at WrestleMania 7. BLOOD COUNT: None. *½

WWF Superstars, 3/2/91: Brother Love teases the Warrior that his career is going to end at WrestleMania VII. Warrior says he’s not going to wait until WrestleMania, he’s going to start ending careers right now. He tears up the Brother Love set and attacks him. Brother Love is stretchered out as Vince and Piper on commentary rejoice.

No Limitations: Warrior says many consider his match with Randy Savage at WrestleMania VII equal with his WrestleMania VI match with Hogan. He says that Savage always planned his matches and spots and came up with ideas. They decided to go ”over the top” with their match with Warrior pleading to the gods and to kick out of finishers multiple times. He compared the match planning to a business negotiation. It meant a lot to him for a top guy like Randy to go with the finish of him placing one foot on him for the pinfall. Warrior liked Savage and they had a lot of respect for each other.

OH MY! Elizabeth is in the audience! That couldn’t mean anything, could it? Neither man look ready to give it up, but Sherri and her dress tell a different story. Warrior doesn’t run down to the ring for this match. He took his time getting to the ring to show how focused he is on this match. He doesn’t want to make any mistakes that might cost him his career. Already, it’s a great story. They do a corner pose-off to start. Savage gets overwhelming boos and Warrior gets overwhelming cheers. Of course, Savage tries to jump Warrior during his moment, but Warrior saw it coming. Warrior shoves Savage back, so Savage goes to the eyes. Savage gets nailed with a shoulderblock as he comes off the ropes, so he takes a breather. Sherri distracts Warrior to cause a distraction for Savage to take over. Warrior comes back with a clothesline and some atomic drops. Sherri slides in the ring, so Warrior delivers a choke-lift on Savage and throws him into Sherri to get her out of the ring. Savage gets tied up in the ropes, but nails Warrior as he telegraphs a backdrop. Savage hits a clothesline and tries a flying crossbody, but Warrior catches him in mid-air. Instead of giving him a slam of sorts, he sets Savage on his feet and slaps him one good time. Savage takes a walk and tosses a chair in the ring for another distraction and nails Warrior from behind. Warrior fights back with punches and stomps Savage a whole bunch down in the corner. The big mistake comes when Warrior misses a corner splash and falls out to the floor. Sherri gets in a slap before Savage leaps off the top with a double-ax. Savage rolls back in to get the ref’s attention so Sherri can claw on Warrior’s face until Warrior has enough and shoves her down. Savage comes by to save her though and tosses Warrior face-first into the steel ringpost. Back in, Savage hits the jumping knee drop for 1-2-NO! Savage wants a reverse neckbreaker, but Warrior counters into a backslide for 1-2-NO! Savage backs away in the corner and spits on Warrior and then decides to bail like any good heel would do. Sherri climbs up on the apron for another distraction, but Warrior doesn’t fall for it this time. Warrior runs the ropes for the Jumping Shoulderblock, but Savage avoids and slams Warrior to the mat for 1-2-NO!

Savage goes to the sleeper hold for the first rest period of the match. Warrior elbows out, but a double-KO follows. Sherri does all she can to wake up the Macho King by grabbing and shaking Savage from the apron. She gets up on the apron to argue with the ref while Warrior has Savage rolled up. She finally gets down and the ref counts 1-2-NO! Warrior’s not happy with the ref either and takes a running knee from Savage as a result, which also gets the ref knocked down. Sherri climbs up to the top rope while Savage holds Warrior. She comes down for a double-ax handle, but Warrior moves and Savage gets nailed. Sherri gets chased in and out of the ring while the ref and Savage regroup. Once he finally grabs Sherri, Savage is there to pull him down to the mat by his tights for 1-2-NO! Savage pulls Warrior into the corner and drops him throat-first on the top rope. Savage delivers the running hotshot for 1-2-NO! Savage goes for the kill with the MACHO ELBOW DROP! It connects! He goes for another one. Direct hit! A third one? Yes! He wants another one? Why not! Will number five be Savage’s lucky number? No problem. Surely this will do it for Warrior. Cover, 1-2-NO! Savage can’t freaking believe it and I can’t say I blame him. Warrior starts to WARRIOR UP and hits some clotheslines. He calls for the GORILLA PRESS SLAM and delivers. WARRIOR SPLASH! Cover, 1-2-NO! OH MY GOSH! Only Hulk Hogan had kicked out of that, which is pretty big stuff. Warrior starts “summoning his gods” on what to do next. He starts talking to his hands and everything. His hands are telling him to leave apparently. As he’s communicating with his hands on the apron, Savage knocks him to the floor. Savage drapes Warrior across the guardrail to give him the Ricky Steamboat treatment. He even has Sherri try and hold him down, but she’s not strong enough for the Warrior. He breaks loose and nails Savage in the gut on the way down, sending him crashing into the guardrail. Back in, Warrior hits a Jumping Shoulderblock. It knocks Savage to the floor, so Warrior brings him back in for another one! The same thing happens, so Warrior brings him back in for one more Jumping Shoulderblock. That should do it! Warrior drags Savage to the center of the ring and places his foot on Savage’s chest for 1-2-3. (20:48) Definitely a match of epic proportions. The story told was brilliant and showed a side of the Ultimate Warrior that the WWE didn’t want you to see until now. Ultimate Warrior always thrived in the big match situations and this was no different. Believe the hype; this match rocks. ****½

Into the Darkness: Warrior puts over the Undertaker as the first successful character the WWF developed from ground zero. They wanted him to feud with Warrior as means of taking him to the next level. We see a Warrior promo where he was serious and said he was going to bring Taker to the darkness. Their first matchup happened in Albany, NY, where the crowd cheered for Taker and booed Warrior. Warrior said Taker was nervous over it and thought it wouldn’t work, but Warrior calmed him down and told him it was awesome. They bring up the coffin angle and Warrior legit went into the coffin. Warrior joked it was the most rest he had in months.

WWF Superstars, 4/13/91: Paul Bearer shows the special casket he and the Undertaker made for Warrior. Warrior said he questioned his destiny at WrestleMania and now was not the time for his powers to cease or to be buried or covered in any sacred ground – even by Paul Bearer and the Undertaker. Bearer assures him he’s going to be scared, but Warrior claims he and the Warriors don’t even fear death. Cue the Undertaker from the casket who attacks and chokes Warrior stuffing him into the airtight casket. Once they exit, various WWF officials from Jack Lanza to Rene Goulet to the Hebners try and break open the casket with different tools. Vince pleads on commentary and even Randy Savage who was still bitter over losing at WrestleMania tries to hurry these guys up. Finally after several minutes, they break the casket lid open. Warrior is unconscious and Dave Hebner gives Warrior CPR to bring him back around. Hmm, looks like Warrior tried to claw his way out of the casket!

From the Rampage ’91 CHV release. Taker is HEAVILY under the control of the urn at this point. Bearer is less of a manager and more of a handler of the Undertaker. Warrior does what he normally does – runs all around his opponent and clotheslines him to the floor. Bearer gets Taker refocused with the urn and squeezes on Warrior’s face for a few minutes. Warrior mercifully escapes, but gets drilled with a Jumping Clothesline. Taker misses a jumping elbow drop and gets slammed by Warrior. He starts up the running clotheslines until he telegraphs a backdrop and takes a jab to the throat. TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER to the Warrior, but he takes forever to cover him and only gets two. Since that’s the best he can do and Warrior is starting to shake the ropes, Taker nails Warrior with the urn for the DQ. (7:45) Afterwards, Bearer and Taker try to put Warrior in a body bag, but to no avail. He WARRIORS UP and clotheslines Taker out to the floor. Taker looks like he’s going to go back after him, but Bearer grabs him by the hair and gets him back under the spell of the urn. It’s a real Gary Hart/Kabuki type relationship here. ¾*

Returning: We get highlights of the post-WrestleMania VIII press conference of the Warrior’s return. He said that he left (contrary to many reports saying he was fired at SummerSlam 91 for holding Vince up for more money) and spent time in Santa Fe doing other things. He had set other goals for himself, but he was called back to return to the WWF about 6-7 weeks before WrestleMania VIII. He recalls how amazing the pop was for his return and thought the roof was going to come off the Hoosier Dome. Having been at WrestleMania VIII live, I can tell you it was an amazing moment that sent the crowd into a frenzy. He talks about how the press conference was something different and never done before and it seemed like a legit press conference. Warrior thought it was great to return despite having different goals.

WWF Superstars, 7/25/92: Gene Okerlund meets with the WWF champion Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior. Warrior says the WWF championship belt represents the best and needs to fit properly around one’s waist who is the best. He sees Macho Man as the best, but not the *very* best. Savage acknowledges that Warrior has beat the best since he’s came to the WWF, but Savage feels he’s BETTER than the best and going to prove it OOOOOHH YEAH! Warrior claims that is Savage’s vision, but he has it in the morning when he rises and when he goes to bed at night and that vision is to be the WWF champion again and realize this dream. Macho Man says the past is the past and it’s the present and he’s the WWF champion and the future isn’t going to be different because he’s the Macho Man – the WWF Champion – and you’re not! While they’re on the podium, Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect enter the ring. Flair is upset he’s left off the SummerSlam card and on the backburner. Perfect calls Savage the “Macho Chicken” which triggers Savage to enter the ring only to be attacked by them. As Perfect chokes Savage with his trouser belt, Warrior makes the save. After Flair and Perfect leave, Warrior hands Savage the WWF championship. Savage gets in his face and a pull-apart brawl ensues.

Ultimate Maniacs: The plan was for Warrior to be back as a top guy, but his physique wasn’t as impressive as it had been. That and his different hair style led to urban legends that the ”original” Ultimate Warrior had died. Warrior went on a strict training regiment and a diet of tuna fish and water. Warrior talks about how he was supposed to win the WWF championship from Macho Man at SummerSlam and brings up the “no limitations” again. He talks about how they embraced after the big match and how a great story of two rivals pleased the fans. What’s not mentioned however is Warrior didn’t win the WWF championship because he rejected a planned heel turn. After SummerSlam, the Ultimate Maniacs was formed. Warrior thought it was cool how they enhanced their gimmicks and collaborated with their costumes and promos. At Survivor Series, Savage & Warrior were going to main event against Ric Flair & Razor Ramon. After they had began the buildup to the match, Warrior was gone again. It was rumored he was fired over steroids. Warrior said they hadn’t decided the plan after Survivor Series for the Ultimate Maniacs, but he enjoyed the angle. They ended up turning Mr. Perfect babyface and placed him into the match in his stead.

WWF Superstars, 11/14/92: The Ultimate Maniacs are riding on the edge of a lightning bolt because they are the Ultimate survivors. They’re not going anywhere and they’ll bring ya all the way down!

Since SummerSlam, Warrior and Savage have become good pals and deemed themselves the Ultimate [ego] Maniacs. I mean, could Vince be trying to refurbish an old friendship angle or something? Were we going to see Warrior try to put the moves on Liz? Surely not. The Maniacs storm the ring and clear it of the evil money lovers to start. During the Brain Scan, (which is the same as Madden using that pen on Monday Night Football) Heenan uses it to draw a caricature of Ross Perot, whom he calls an idiot! Whoa, WWF! Don’t push your political agendas on me now! Once all that settles down, Savage atomic drops DiBiase into Warrior for a punch. Savage hits the running hotshot and tags in Warrior. DiBiase goes to the eyes, but ducks low off a whip and takes a suplex instead for two. Warrior goes for the running shoulderblock, but DiBiase avoids and sends Warrior to the mat. Tag to IRS, he applies the sleeper. Meanwhile, Flair, Razor and Perfect look on from the dressing room. They all have a little something to say to the camera about the Maniacs not surviving at Survivor Series. Back to the match, DiBiase has Warrior in the MILLION DOLLAR DREAM. Savage breaks it up with a high knee. Double-clothesline follows and that sets up a HOT TAG TO SAVAGE! He hits the MACHO ELBOW DROP on IRS and a pier-six brawl erupts until the champs take their belts and go home. (6:11) The Maniacs go after Money Inc, but then they get ambushed by Flair and company to make it five-on-two. I must say, that was fun. **

Reestablish: After Warrior left the WWF in 1992, he set more goals for himself mainly to get into the gym business in Arizona. He also reestablished his relationship with his dad. He started a WARRIOR comic book with big plans for it. In 1996, he got a call from Vince asking him to come back. Warrior wanted a different agreement though as he wanted to promote his comic book and thought the Ultimate Warrior brand had a long shelf life. He got a general contract offer and told Vince to F off (not Federation, kiddos). Warrior said he always got a laugh telling Vince off. He said he continued on being happy with life, but Linda McMahon decided to give Warrior what he wanted and scored the deal. He said the 1996 return to the WWF wouldn’t have happened if not for Linda (who Warrior has called like a mother to him). He returned at WrestleMania 12 to face Hunter Hearst Helmsley. He didn’t know Paul, but met him that day and called it another great story. It was decided to be a squash and Warrior defeated HHH. He did admit he caught a lot of heat for his actions and the match, but Vince didn’t say anything.

This is Sable’s WWF debut as her hubby formerly known as Johnny B. Badd just signed with the WWF. Lawler tells us that his “sources” say that Ultimate Warrior has ballooned up to 400 pounds since we last saw him in 1992. HHH hits the PEDIGREE early on Warrior, which he NO-SELLS and WARRIORS UP! Clotheslines and shoulderblocks ensue. Guerrilla Press Slam is followed by the WARRIOR SPLASH to completely squash Helmsley. (1:39) On WWE’s Warrior DVD, Triple H called the Ultimate Warrior the most unprofessional man he’s ever been in the ring with. How he could tell that from wrestling him for 99 seconds, I’ll never know. ¼*

Ultimate Warrior Returns!: At the time, Warrior wasn’t concerned with where his character was going in terms of becoming a WWF champion again. That was never part of the terms of the agreement when he returned. However, he was supposed to be put in a main event role. He knew he had to make the Ultimate Warrior character as good as he could be without pursuing titles. Admitting on camera that he wasn’t in the WWF to go after any titles was not something that was done back then. Warrior feels he was at his best during this time in his career. I can’t imagine anyone else agreeing with that.

WWF Raw, 4/8/96: Vince McMahon brings out the ULTIMATE WARRRRIOR. The spirit of the WOYAH has been calling him for the last three and a half years. For whatever reason, it took them that long to answer. Vince wants to know how he will fare against the New Generation. Goldust and Marlena interrupt. He hits on WOYAH. Too bad because WOYAH feels that queering doesn’t make the world work. WOYAH doesn’t give a shart what Goldust is into and says if Goldust wants a full-length action film, it would include him kicking Goldust’s backside from beginning to end. Whoa! Attitude era, much? WOYAH sends him to the back with a signature clothesline and beats on his chest while they play his music. That was kind of epic.

WWF Raw, 6/10/96: Vince McMahon introduces the Ultimate Warrior. Big reaction for him. Why is he wearing a ball cap though? That takes away like 75% of his weird mystique. Jerry Lawler joins us in the ring and wants to present Warrior with the framed portrait as a peace offering so that they won’t have to wrestle at the King of the Ring. Warrior says he sees Jerry Lawler as the “biggest con artist there ever was”. Essentially, there’s nothing that Lawler could do that would stop him from kicking his butt at the King of the Ring. When Warrior turns away, Lawler smashes the portrait over his back. While Warrior is busy no-selling and shaking the ropes, Lawler hightails it to the locker room. Warrior chases after him, but he’s long gone. SHOCKING TURN OF EVENTS~!

Ultimate Warrior vs. Jerry Lawler – (King of the Ring 1996)

On Lawler’s way to the ring, he walks over to the KOTR throne and brings the scepter with him. Not to mention making fun of Milwaukee. “It’s girls like you that turn men into Goldust.” That would NEVER happen today. After Warrior makes his entrance, Lawler pearl harbors him with the scepter. Lawler does every cheap heel trick in the book to set up the PILEDRIVER. Warrior NO-SELLS, WARRIORS UP, and hits a series of clotheslines. Jumping shoulderblock gets the 1-2-3. (3:51) Even though the next PPV had the Warrior in the main event, he would start no-showing events and was quickly released. CRAP

Going to WCW: Shortly after King of the Ring, Warrior felt it was time to move on (he no showed many appearances and was suspended on air). He kept getting calls from guys like Hogan who lived and breathed the business asking him to come back. Hogan kept pitching him to go to WCW. In 1998, they finally reached a deal for the Warrior to arrive in WCW. It was a short term deal for a lot of money. It was to start with Hogan and lead up to big matches with other big stars. He LOVED his debut and had planned his promo and effects. People backstage thought it was awesome. He called it a great springboard to start the feud with Hogan, but WCW didn’t have the energy to capitalize on it.

WCW Monday Nitro, 8/17/98: This is Warrior’s WCW debut. It’s a long segment at nearly twenty minutes as Warrior does a lot of rambling. Here is the gist of it though. ”[Hogan] has beaten myths, legends, giants, and other great men, but he has NEVER NEVER beat a Warrior and certainly not an ULTIMATE one. As the victor of that one time battle I defeated what was undefeatable, I conquered what was then unconquerable, I dominated what was until then indomitable. On that day, you were great; I was ULTIMATE.” Warrior was of course referring to his WrestleMania VI win over Hogan which had been their one and only meeting. He also used the “Ultimate” phrase as he was unable to use “Ultimate” in his name in WCW and only went by ”The Warrior”. In a funny bit, he asks Hogan if his lackey the Disciple (Brutus Beefcake) was his barber. In what legit made Hogan upset, Warrior talked about how everyone already defeated Hogan and it means nothing anymore. Warrior felt Hogan’s mind was weak and Hulkamania had become boring. Warrior then disappears into a cloud of smoke.

Repulsive: He remembers planning ideas with thirty different people just an hour before Nitro and how disorganized it was. He talks about how a lot of the ideas were disconnected. Warrior said that there should be no problem – just let him do promos on Hogan. He talked about how Bischoff always arrived late and had panic attacks. He said WCW was just along for the ride with no real decision maker and just used Ted Turner’s money. He said they used his money to bring him back just to lose a match to Hogan. He said he didn’t feel good about getting all that money just to lose. He felt it was repulsive.

WCW Monday Nitro, 10/26/98: This is the night after Halloween Havoc. In this promo, Warrior brings up how Hogan got a bullcrap pinfall on him, but that he beat the hell out of Hogan. He claims he opened the door to Warrior’s hell and that he’s the gatekeeper. He hints that a rubber match is possibly on the way. The NWO come out and Horace Hogan, the Giant, and Eric Bischoff are all attacked by Warrior. Hogan tries to sneak in but is taken down with a flying tackle. For as awful as their Halloween Havoc match was, the crowd was into this. Warrior’s last Nitro appearance was two weeks later and then WCW stopped using him and just paid him to sit at home. It happens.

The Right Story: Warrior tells his fans that he hopes they enjoy this fix for now and that it satisfies their appetite. He says it’s just the start! He is happy to announce he is getting inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame. He said he’s turned it down many times in the past, but accepted it because now he can tell the right story – the full story of the Warrior and that is yet to come. He said if you thought he was intense in the ring, wait until you hear the stories on the man named Warrior. Until we meet again, he’s Warrior, always believe.

Final Thoughts: Kudos to the WWE (no matter what the motive is) for making up for the “Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior” set. Regardless of the fact that most people say he was hard to work with or was a pain to be around, Warrior still made your company money and he was the face of the WWE if even for a short time. There are always two sides to every story. We’ve heard the WWE talent’s side of things, but now we get the Warrior’s side. Despite all the rumors and comments made about the Warrior over the years, I feel this was a fair account of his wrestling career. I don’t think it’s necessary to put out a third DVD though. I just don’t feel his body of work is that interesting. He’s certainly an interesting character and has at least three really great matches that any fan of the Warrior should see. Aside from those three encounters though, there’s not much else. Thumbs in the middle for the Ultimate Warrior: Ultimate Collection set.